The Effect of Dialogue Journal Writing on Writing Quality, Reading Comprehension, and Writing Apprehension of EFL College Students.

Song, Minjong

This study investigated the effect of dialogue journal writing on the writing quality, reading comprehension, and writing apprehension of college freshmen studying English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) in a Korean university. Subjects were 207 students in four intact reading sections of a freshman English reading course. For a 10-week period, students in two sections wrote dialogue journals, and their progress was compared with that of the other two sections in pretest/posttest format. Writing quality was assessed holistically in two essays. Reading achievement was evaluated with two reading comprehension subtests of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). A writing apprehension scale was also used before and after the dialogue journal period. Results indicate that the journal-writing groups progressed better in all three areas, although not always to a degree that was statistically significant. Some sampling limitations are also noted. It is concluded that use of dialogue journals may be an effective technique in EFL instruction in general and in reading instruction in particular. Contains 49 references. (MSE)